Sara Haddad and I had planned this extraordinary Asian dinner. Shrimp dumplings in a noodle soup (like here, except with shrimp instead of pork), thin, savory steak slices rolled up with peppers and carrots (like here), and fresh hot rice.

It mostly worked. The steak rolls (which i’ll tell you about later) and the soup turned out beautifully. But, right afte we had made this delicious shrimp mixture to pleat into wonton wrappers, we discovered that the wonton wrappers were MOLDY. What a downer.

But we didn’t panic! We brainstormed (and Googled, which is often the same thing). And we came up with these. Fried shrimp balls, a.k.a. Shrimp Falafel! They were phenomenal. We ate them dipped in chili sauce as a side dish to the steak rolls or floating in a brothy soup of cabbage, mushroom, and egg noodles. Sara took these great pictures, too.

Shrimp balls, also known as Shrimp Falafel (thanks, Sarah!)
(adapted from Steamy Kitchen)

1 pound ground shrimp (mince it in a food processor)
3 or 4 stalks scallion, finely minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 egg
2 slices of toast, made into breadcrumbs and toasted in a dry pan

Mix everything up. Drop tablespoonfulls of the mixture into a pan with hot oil. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Makes about 20. Serve with chili sauce or plop them into a bowl of soup (for the soup option, maybe make them 1/2 tbs size).

This was actually the first dish I made in my cast iron pan. The shrimp got a savory sear on one side from the high heat, and everything came together perfectly. It’s reminiscent a Hamburger Helper meal, except so much better and less….boxed-pasta-y. This was for two meal-sized servings or 4 side dish servings. It was inspired by Pioneer Woman’s Penne a la Betsy (a lawyer-turned-food blogger, like me! Wonder how much Contracts Law she remembers…..or how much I’ll remember in oh….2 years at Bar Exam time.)

Creamy spicy shrimp pasta

10 or 15 medium shrimp, shells removed
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 bullion cube
Water, to boil pasta
2 cups small pasta, like mini shells or orecchiette
Lots. Lots. of garlic (3 or 4 cloves) – sliced into slivers
1/2 onion, sliced
Red pepper flakes
1/2 cup, at least, of parmesan cheese (even the pizza can kind)
1 cup steamed broccoli

– Flavor a pot of water with a bullion cube and boil the pasta. It doesn’t have to be a the exact cube-water proportion as required for a real broth – put enough water to cook the pasta, just use the cube as more flavoring. Cook the pasta until not quite al dente. It’ll finish cooking with the shrimp.
– In a skillet, add some olive oil and saute the slivered garlic and onions until savory and rather soft. Add a generous sprinkle of hot pepper flakes.
– Put the shrimp into the pan in a single layer. Sprinkle with crushed black pepper. Don’t touch the shrimp. Let them get a nice sear on one side.
– Flip them over and add the diced tomatoes. Let it cook for a few minutes until tomatoes release some juice. Salt it.
– Add the almost-cooked pasta. Mix it well to let it simmer and finish cooking in the tomato juice. Add some of the cooking water/broth if it’s too dry. Sprinkle with red and black peppers again. Add the broccoli.
– When the juice is absorbed into the pasta, add the cheese in and mix until it’s all melty and gooey and yummy. (and sprinkle with red pepper again, if you can take the heat!)